The present invention pertains to a commissioning unit with at least one high-speed automatic turning unit, which has at least one article bay with essentially vertical, preferably gently sloping article shafts, which are arranged next to one another, are accessible from the front, and in which articles to be commissioned can be stored, wherein a traveling bay-storage and retrieval unit associated with the article bay can be positioned at each article shaft and it loads articles into the article shaft. The present invention also pertains to a process for providing and storing articles in a commissioning unit, preferably one of the above-mentioned type.
The filling shafts of automatic commissioning units have hitherto been loaded with new articles mainly manually. The operation is comparatively expensive and time-consuming. To save costs and time, a prior-art commissioning unit provides for automatic loading by means of a bay-storage and retrieval unit according to DE 297 03 230, by means of which articles can be pushed from the lower end of the filling shaft into a filling shaft inclined in relation to the horizontal. This type of loading of the filling shaft is unsuitable for vertical or quasi-vertical filling shafts, because the filling shaft is loaded with the total weight of the stack in this case and the stack already present would have to be pushed upward.
Furthermore, the filling shaft is loaded from the top in the case of vertical or nearly vertical filling shafts accessible from the front. To make it possible to perform this expediently by means of an automatic unit, provisions are made according to EP 0 794 135 to load not only a single article, but even an entire stack of articles at the same time by means of an automatic unit. The stack of articles is handled now in a special box-like magazine with an elongated hole in a longitudinal side wall. The magazine serves the purpose of consistently keeping together the stack of articles, doing so from the loading site at the acceptance department to the loading operation proper. The magazine is adapted to the shape of the articles and the plurality of stacked articles. After a loading operation in the high-speed automatic turning unit, the empty magazine is returned to the acceptance department for being filled again with articles.
The object of the present invention is to provide a commissioning unit of the type described in the introduction, which makes it possible with simple means to efficiently load articles into the high-speed automatic turning unit and optionally to keep ready articles to be loaded in an expedient manner.
According to the invention, a commissioning system is provided with with at least one high-speed automatic turning unit, which has at least one article bay with essentially vertical, preferably gently sloping, article shafts, which are arranged next to one another, are accessible from the front and in which articles to be commissioned can be stored. The traveling bay-storage and retrieval unit associated with the article bay can be positioned at each article bay and it loads articles into the article shaft. The bay-storage and retrieval unit is movable in space and has an article-handling unit, which loads articles of the same brand and dimension stack by stack without a magazine, wherein a stack of articles to be loaded is handled by the bay-storage and retrieval unit simultaneously without a separate stack-of-articles magazine or container. The article-handling unit has a bottom-side stack-of-articles pick-up, an adjustable longitudinal stack-of-articles pusher, an adjustable transverse stack-of-articles pusher and an adjustable longitudinal stack-of-articles clamping plate provided especially with a row of the spring-tensioned fingers. The clamping plate is located in parallel and opposite the stack-of-articles pick-up and pushes in the clamped state a stack of articles picked up directly by the longitudinal stack-of-articles clamping plate, especially by the spring-tensioned fingers of the clamping plate, in the transverse direction (Q) of the stack against the stack-of-articles pick-up.
According to another aspect of the invention, a process for providing and loading articles in a commissioning unit with at least one high-speed automatic turning unit. The turning unit has at least one article bay with, essentially vertical, preferably gently sloping article shafts, which are arranged next to one another, are accessible from the front and in which articles to be commissioned can be stored. At least one traveling bay-storage and retrieval unit associated with the article bay can be positioned at each article shaft and can load articles into the article shaft, especially during the operation of a commissioning unit. Articles of the same brand and size can be removed by the bay-storage movable in space and retrieval unit from a supply bay or from a stack-of-articles stacker plate at the acceptance department in a stack prepacked there essentially by the horizontal displacement of the stack of articles in the longitudinal direction of the stack, preferably gently sloping downward in the longitudinal direction toward the bay-storage and retrieval unit and gently sloping laterally in the transverse direction against a stop (and be optionally loaded again at another supply bay). The stack of articles removed is transferred by the bay-storage and retrieval unit essentially in horizontal arrangement on the bay-storage and retrieval unit to the high-speed automatic turning unit, and the stack of articles is clamped there in the transverse direction of the stack directly in a stack of articles handling unit before the (vertical) positioning of a stack of articles at a selected article shaft. After positioning in the deposition position, the clamped stack of articles is released from or pushed out of the clamping in a selected shaft of the high-speed automatic turning unit.
The essence of the present invention is that the bay-storage and retrieval unit, which is movable in space, has an article-handling unit, which stores articles of the same brand or dimension in stacks without magazine, wherein a stack of articles to be stored is handled by the bay-storage and retrieval unit simultaneously without a separate stack-of-articles magazine or container and the article-handling unit has a bottom-side stack-of-articles pick-up, an adjustable longitudinal stack-of-articles pusher, an adjustable transverse stack-of-articles pusher and an adjustable longitudinal stack-of-articles clamping plate, which said clamping plate has, in particular, a row of spring-tensioned fingers and which is located in parallel to and opposite the stack-of-articles pick-up and which presses in the clamped state a stack of articles picked up directly by the longitudinal stack-of-articles clamping plate, especially its spring-tensioned fingers, against the stack-of-articles pick-up in the transverse direction of the stack.
Instead of the spring-tensioned fingers, it is also possible to provide other clamping means, which ensure the local clamping of every single article in the stack of articles, e.g., a flexible, resilient clamping strip.
The bay-storage and retrieval unit is preferably able to travel from and to at least one supply bay by means of a guide or rail system with or without switches, and it can be positioned at a selected lateral end of a shaft of the storage bay, especially of an angle sheet iron, wherein a single stack of articles to be handled is or can be arranged in each selected shaft and the stack of articles reaches an aligned article pick-up of the article-handling unit by being pushed in the direction of the stack or conversely, it reaches the selected shaft from the article support.
In the case of small products, two stacks of articles may also be optionally stored in a single shaft, in which case these stacks of articles will be parallel (xe2x80x9cmultiple load supportxe2x80x9d).
The supply bay may be a higher-level supply bay, which is associated with the high-speed automatic turning unit and is preferably located in the vicinity t the article bay of the high-speed automatic turning unit.
However, the supply bay may also be a buffer, which is associated with the acceptance department and is preferably located in the vicinity of the unpacking station, at which the stacks of articles are unpacked from a collective box and are put together.
Depending on the size of the commissioning unit and local space conditions, both one or more higher-level supply bays as well as one or more buffers are preferred, and a plurality of high-speed automatic turning units may be present as well.
The commissioning unit according to the present invention can consequently be designed within broad limits as desired and, in particular, it can also be expanded in the future without difficulties.
The unpacked stacks of articles are expediently put together on a stack-of-articles stacker plate, which has the shape of a part of at least one bay level of the supply bay, and is formed especially by angle sheet irons, wherein the bay-storage and retrieval unit can also be transferred to the stack-of-articles stacker plate by displacement via the rail or guide system for taking over a stack of articles and it can be positioned at the stack-of-articles stacker plate, especially at a lateral end of an angle sheet iron.
For positioning at the bay-storage and retrieval unit, the stack-of-articles stacker plate may also be displaceable, especially on a conveyor belt or on a chute and/or be rotatable around a vertical axis preferably over an angle of 90xc2x0 or 180xc2x0.
The stack-of-articles stacker plate may also be a vertically adjustable bay with drawers that can be pulled out, which can be operated manually or automatically.
A hand or foot switch may be optionally actuated by a human operator for adjusting the stack-of-articles stacker plate.
The commissioning unit may also be designed as a fully automatic unit such that an automatic unpacking unit with a gripping arm, which grasps a preferably horizontal stack of articles from an opened higher-level box and deposits it on the stack-of-articles stacker plate, is provided on the acceptance department side.
The opening and delivery of the higher-level box may optionally also be performed by means of a machine.
A supply bay of a particularly expedient design has one or more levels of angle sheet irons arranged next to one another, which levels are arranged one on top of another.
Each angle sheet iron may extend horizontally, but it is bent twice in a manner that is to be pointed out in particular, such that a groove is formed, which has a rectangular cross section and is oblique in the longitudinal direction, wherein the root of the angle is located at the lowest point in each longitudinal cross section of the groove and both surfaces of the legs of the angle are stop faces for a stack of articles picked up, and, furthermore, a detachable, preferably depressible article stop is provided at the deepest end of the groove.
The detachable article stop may be actuated not only remotely, but it may also be self-actuated, e.g., by a magnet. The article stop may also be rigid. In this case, the articles are lifted over with a suitable device during a displacement of a stack of articles.
In one variant of the present invention, the slope of the groove is about 20xc2x0 in the longitudinal direction and about 15xc2x0 in the transverse direction. The more oblique the slope of the groove in the longitudinal direction, the greater is the independent slidability of the stack of articles in the groove. It was found that with the above-mentioned slope, a stack of articles is held in practical operation under stable conditions advantageously on the rear side and the top side with a rolling cart and it slides satisfactorily in the groove when a stack of articles is displaced in the system of the commissioning unit. The transverse slope of 15xc2x0 always fixes a stack of articles in the angle root of the groove.
Consequently, a longitudinal fixing aid, which pushes the stack of articles against the article stop, may be provided in the groove.
The longitudinal fixing aid is expediently the rolling cart, a longitudinally adjustable, driven article stop or a spring-pretensioned article stop.
It shall be pointed out that different article sizes can be held in a fixed manner as a stack in the angle root in the above-mentioned groove sloping doubly at an angle. A cubic shape is sufficient. Thus, a single angle sheet iron may be used for different articles without the entire unit having to be converted.
The supply bay may also be a space-saving double bay, which is arranged back to back.
The article-handling unit of the bay-storage and retrieval unit expediently has a coupling pin, which can be caused to engage as a centering aid a corresponding recess in a selected shaft of a supply bay.
The article-handling unit may also have a stop, especially a small roller, which can be caused to engage the stack-of-articles stop of a shaft for releasing or depressing the stack-of-articles stop, wherein the stop of the article-handling unit may also be the adjustable longitudinal pusher itself.
A commissioning unit that makes do without separate magazines for stacks of articles to be loaded in is characterized, in particular, by the stack-of-articles pick-up of the bay-storage and retrieval unit, the shaft and the angle sheet iron of the higher-level supply bay, the buffer and the stack-of-articles stacker plate at the acceptance department having the same design in terms of length, width and optionally slope (longitudinal slope, transverse slope).
However, the size of the angle sheet iron of the higher-level supply bay may also be different. The smallest possible number of classes are preferably determined in order to make it possible to load articles of different sizes as close as possible, while the stack-of-articles pick-up of the bay-storage and retrieval unit always remains the same (corresponding to the largest grid).
An especially expedient variant of a bay-storage and retrieval unit according to the present invention provides for the article-handling unit being fixed via a pivot axis on a carriage, which is transversely displaceable on a transverse rail with a slope of the depth of the shaft and in the longitudinal direction of the shaft of the supply bay, especially with a slope of about 20xc2x0, wherein the transverse rail is rigidly fastened to a vertically displaceable lifting carriage of the bay-storage and retrieval unit.
The transverse rail may also be designed as a telescope, such that it can be displaced in a stationary telescopic unit.
The special advantage of this variant is that a small number of axes are sufficient for positioning the article-handling unit (axis in parallel to the shaft including two electric cylinders for linkage). Likewise, only two pushers (longitudinal pusher and transverse pusher) are needed.
Another embodiment of the bay-storage and retrieval unit, which is no less expedient, is characterized in that the article-handling unit is a two-part unit and has a separate, vertically adjustable stack-of-articles pick-up unit with-a plurality of angle sheet irons of the type, position and size of the stack-of-articles pick-up and of the supply bay, which has at least one adjustable second longitudinal stack-of-articles pusher of its own, wherein a plurality of stacks of articles can be delivered as well as loaded and unloaded by the stack-of-articles pick-up unit from the buffer or from the stack-of-articles pick-up to the higher-level supply bay, and it has a separate, vertically adjustable article bay loading unit, which is in turn a two-part unit and has a vertically adjustable single stack-of-articles pick-up with the longitudinal stack-of-articles pusher and another transverse stack-of-articles pusher, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, a gripping unit movable in space with the bottom-side stack-of-articles pick-up, with the longitudinal stack-of-articles clamping plate and with the adjustable transverse stack-of-articles pusher, wherein a single selected stack of articles can be delivered by the article shaft loading unit from the supply bay (higher-level supply bay, buffer) or from the stack-of-articles stacker plate of the acceptance department into the high-speed automatic turning unit, and it can be loaded into a selected, essentially vertical shaft of the article bay there.
To load the stack of articles into the high-speed automatic turning unit, the stack of articles can then be expediently removed by the single stack-of-articles pick-up from the supply bay in the longitudinal direction of the stack by displacement with the longitudinal stack-of-articles pusher and can be delivered to the high-speed automatic turning unit and after transfer and transverse displacement of the stack of articles from the single stack-of-articles pick-up by the additional transverse stack-of-articles pusher to the bottom-side stack-of-articles pick-up of the aligned gripping unit (or by direct takeover by the gripping unit) and after clamping of the entire stack of articles in the transverse direction of the stack by the longitudinal clamping plate with the spring-tensioned fingers, it can be positioned and loaded at the selected shaft of the high-speed automatic turning unit by moving the gripping unit.
It shall be mentioned concerning the single stack-of-articles pick-up from the supply bay that, just as in the case of the stack-of-articles pick-up, a plurality of single stacks can be buffered at the bay-storage and retrieval unit, as a result of which it is possible to reduce the cycle time.
The gripping unit is fastened preferably via an axis of rotation to a vertically adjustable lifting carriage, which is in turn vertically displaceable on a vertical bar of the bay-storage and retrieval unit, which bar is articulated on the bottom side around two axes that are at right angles to one another.
The vertical bar expediently has a shorter length than the vertical bar, on which the single stack-of-articles pick-up and the stack-of-articles pick-up unit are vertically displaceable. The reason for this is that the height of a higher-level supply bay may be approx. 5.5 m, while the height of the high-speed automatic turning unit is usually approx. 2.5 m.
The axis with a length of 2.5 m may also be part of the principal axis and be connected to same in the form of a tandem axis.
The special advantage of the second embodiment variant is that the high-speed automatic turning unit filling unit has a sufficiently long (approx. 2.5 m) linear axis in parallel to the shaft, by which the displacement of the gripping unit along the shaft is facilitated. The vertical axis or bar proper of the bay-storage and retrieval unit carries only the pick-up unit (a plurality of stacks of articles on one side, a single stack of articles on the other side), which is likewise suitable for high supply bays (in the range of approx. 5.5 m).
Buffering of a plurality of stacks of articles is also conceivable on the other side. The stack of article pick-up unit may also be rotatable around a vertical axis by 180xc2x0 to service double-sided bays.
In the second embodiment variant, it may be advantageous to use two separate devices for loading in and loading goods, because the operations may have different priorities and it may thus be possible to make do with fewer devices.
It is advantageous in each of the above-mentioned two basic embodiment variants for the direct loading into a (vertical) shaft of a high-speed automatic turning unit to be performed by clamping the stack of articles by the longitudinal clamping plate with simultaneous pushing out by the transverse stack-of-articles pusher of the stack of articles-handling unit of the bay-storage and retrieval unit. The stack of articles to be loaded (which is positioned nearly or exactly in the vertical position) is then held clamped until it is lowered in the article bay onto a support (i.e., on an article already loaded or on the bottom of the shaft).
The clamping force is preferably reduced in a product-specific manner during the pushing out. An additional bottom plate, which forms one unit with the clamping plate and guides the articles during loading until they cannot bend off, may be used especially in the case of short articles.
Thus, the present invention makes it possible to completely abandon separate stack-of-articles magazines (contrary to the state of the art mentioned in the introduction). Thus, such magazines do not need to be manufactured, nor do they need to be adapted to a special stack of articles, nor do they need to be conveyed within the system of the commissioning unit, and especially returned as empties from the high-speed automatic turning unit to the acceptance department, which is normally located at a great distance. The commissioning unit makes possible a favorable workplace design at the acceptance department. As the collective cardboard boxes with the articles (e.g., the amount of articles to be commissioned daily) are delivered there by a truck, the cardboard boxes can be rapidly and effectively unpacked there rapidly and simultaneously by a plurality of persons and the stacks of articles can be put together, e.g., in a morning shift. Nevertheless, the bay-storage and retrieval unit or bay-storage and retrieval units perform (normally over the entire workday) the distribution and the loading of the articles stack by stack at the necessary point in the high-speed automatic turning unit or at an optimized point within the system of the unit, utilizing supply bays in the form of a higher-level supply bay or supply bays and/or one or more buffer, which can be complemented or rearranged almost at will for an expansion or modification of the commissioning unit.
The various features of novelty which characterize the invention are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure. For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its uses, reference is made to the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated.